Dole pesticides case
Los Angeles lawyer Juan J. Dominguez, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Central American farmworkers, answers questions during a visit to Chinandega, Nicaragua. (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)
A worker carries plantains through a Nicaraguan plantation where Dole Food Co. once grew bananas. (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)
Former banana workers rally in Nicaragua in support of workers who say they were made sterile by DBCP, made by Dow Chemical and used by Dole Food. Dow and Dole deny the allegations, although a Los Angeles jury has now found Dole partially liable for the farmworkers’ conditions. (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)
Leticia Vidabre, right, who worked for 16 years at a banana plantation in Nicaragua, said she blamed DBCP for her kidney ailments. She died of kidney failure in September 2006, about a month after she was visited by Primitivo Presentacion Perez, a former co-worker. (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)
Jose Adolfo Tellez is the lead plaintiff in Tellez vs. Dole. He says DBCP made him sterile, leaving him with no children to help care for his mother, Justa Pastora Tellez. (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)
Children play in relatively quiet streets in Posoltega, where Dole began farming operations in the late 1960s. UNICEF says Nicaragua is the third-poorest country in the Americas. (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)
